November 4, 1946 Earthquake: Turkmenistan

Name: November 4, 1946 Earthquake: Turkmenistan
Start: 1946-11-04
Location: Turkmenistan

November 4, 1946 · M7.5 · 400 deaths

A magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Turkmenistan on November 4, 1946 at 21:47:00 UTC, 26 km below the surface. It killed 400 people.

Map

Where it struck, with the other significant earthquakes within 200 km. Circles are sized and colored by magnitude; select one for its page.

The earthquake

Date: November 4, 1946
Time: 21:47:00 UTC
Place: Turkmenistan
Magnitude: 7.5
Focal depth: 26 km (16 mi)
Tsunami: None recorded
Epicenter: 39.300° N, 55.400° E
Country: Turkmenistan
Region: Central Asia and Caucasus
USGS record: The USGS’s page for this earthquake

The toll

Deaths: 400
Damage: Severe (about $5 to $25 million)

Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.

What the record says

NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.

Reference #1212 lists epicenter 39.8 N, 54.5 E, magnitude 7.5.

400 dead, M 6.75 (reference #1002)

Thus, according to our interpretation, the Kazandzhik earthquake consisted of two shocks with two sources of different sizes located in different geological structures. The main source, a subvertical normal fault with a possible strike-slip component, was located in the boundary zone between the Frontal Ridge of the Western Kopet Dagh and the Kopet Dagh foredeep (the Kazandzhik depression) and was of the same type as the source of the Ashkhabad earthquake of 1948. Both sources are associated with a regional fault extending along the entire Kopet Dagh system, at the boundary between the Frontal anticline range and the Kopet Dagh foredeep, and are due to the tectonic process of the foredeep development. According to the size of the main source (~45 km), the magnitude of the Kazandzhik earthquake was M ~ 6.9-7.0. The smaller source (a reversed-thrust fault with strike-slip components) is associated with one of the active faults in Greater Balkhan structures. (reference #12412)

Sources NCEI cites

The publications NCEI lists for this record. The numbers match the “reference #” notes in its account above.

#223 Kondorskaya, N.V., and N.V. Shebalin, editors (1982). New catalog of strong earthquakes in the U.S.S.R. from ancient times through 1977. Report SE-31, World Data Center A for Solid Earth Geophysics, NOAA, National Geophysical Data Center, Boulder, Colorado, USA, 608 p.
#1002 Lomnitz, Cinna (1974). Development in Geotectonics #5, Global Tectonics and Earthquake Risk, Elsevier Scientific Publishing Co., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1974.
#1212 Bapat, Arun, R.C. Kulkarni, and S.K. Guha (1983). Catalogue of Earthquakes in India and Neighbourhood, from Historical Period up to 1979. Indian Society of Earthquake Technology, Roorkee, India, 211 p.
#12412 Balakina, L. M., and A. G. Moskvina (2007). Seismogenic zones of the Transcaspian region: Characteristics of sources of the largest earthquakes. II. The Krasnovodsk and Kazandzhik earthquakes. Izvestiya, Physics of the Solid Earth, 43(5), 378-403.

Other significant earthquakes nearby

Within 200 km, the deadliest first.

Significant earthquakes of 1946 The 1900s Every quake the USGS located in 1946 Recent earthquakes near here This day in weather history

Sources

Significant earthquakes from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-10-01. NCEI earthquake 3837. The written accounts and the magnitude estimates are from the USGS earthquake catalog, event iscgem898652, matched to this record by time, place and magnitude.